


you'll see smiles all around, with the brightest of skies above you

by Vanessa Poseidon (Sannuz)



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: i just really like clair rn and wanted something for her :), it was inspired by the incredible work of Rahul, this is pre-champion lance ok, this is very indulgent and short, yeah ik
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24779506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sannuz/pseuds/Vanessa%20Poseidon
Summary: Who was Clair before the Rising Badge? She was a bit lost and a little bit confused, but always ready for change. Here you will find her working through it, and her eventual decision to take the Blackthorn Gym. All through non-linear oneshot glances of crucial moments leading up to her choice through time.“Clair, what do you dream of for yourself?"(P.S: This fic was heavily inspired by this wonderful work by ao3 user @gaystcr: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23559322. Go check it out, it's awesome!)
Relationships: Clair & Jasmine, Lance/Koga
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	you'll see smiles all around, with the brightest of skies above you

**Author's Note:**

> Calling occupants of everywhere, I'm here! Just like the amazing fic it was inspired on, this a bit of a character study on Clair. It portrays her steps towards self-discovery and her fate as a Gym Leader. It's not much, but I really like it. Bye bye!

“ _To whoever needs to know it, Clair of Blackthorn City is better than you. She is._  
_She is a strikingly incredible, powerful and amazing trainer to have in your University. I do say this utilizing my title to its full extent as a judge of abilities! Clair is a true lover of her craft, and a true soul of passion and joy. No prized place of learning in all of Johto would be wise by turning her down. Clair of Blackthorn will mark her way as a touchstone of drive and determination._

_With care and power,_

_Indigo League’s Heavenly King Lance"_

**VS. DARK CAVE**

“Why did you not want to try something else?”

Anyone trying to know Clair would probably get smacked by asking that. Because, when you do it, you’re observing and picking someone else’s life. And Clair hated being watched like that. That is what happens when you've been trying to find your purpose ever since you could walk and talk. Of course she's been trying, everyone around her was supposed to make something of themselves as Trainers. Lance is a fucking Elite Four now. Grandpa is the leader of an entire clan. Her whole family is an array of legendary trainers. Clair always felt that as a never ending pressure, a crushing responsibility peering from the corners of her eyes.

“I want to train, I just don’t want to do it because I'm _supposed_ to” she’d say to Jasmine, her voice echoing through the deep cave they were in. Clair met Jasmine a few weeks before her exam for the Blackthorn Gym. She apparently trained her Steel types right here on the same dark cave for years, and they never crossed paths before. Clair didn’t have the best people skills and Jasmine wasn’t that much of a talker, so the friendship took off quickly. Clair trained by blasting the stone walls with claws and explosions of fire. Jasmine trained by shaking the earth itself and taking on devastating rock slides. A match made in heaven.

“But isn’t becoming a Gym Leader kinda doing that?” Jasmine wondered, patching up her friend’s hand after a rather nasty cut from a sharp rock. Clair sighed. “I mean, it isn’t it! I took my time to choose this for myself, Jas. I think”. She rested her head on Jasmine’s shoulder, always comforting. “I’ve been taking this on for so long. Trying sooo many things. I’m busting at the seams for something to actually last, man”.

Jasmine finished bandaging the cut as she heard the lament. The cave was getting darker and darker as the sun rested over Route 46. Jasmine put an arm over her friend’s shoulders, a first. They started walking out of there, away from the lullabies of Clefairies and into the light of the full moon. Both of the women seemed to be on the edge of her thoughts. So, Jasmine took on her familiar steel clad expression and asked something that was long, long overdue. A reckoning.

“Clair, what do you dream of for yourself?"

**VS. GOLDENROD CITY**

College is a mess. Even if it's supposed to help you figure out your life.  
The classes are on different buildings, there are professor aides walking around and bumping into everyone, pokémon battles rattling classrooms and a general feeling of anxiety throughout the students. And that’s only for a queer studies major like Clair (What the hell is it like for a battling major?). It’s been a little over a month already since she left the icy mountains for the north to the busy metropolis of Goldenrod, at the center of Johto. The streets were bustling with people every single day, but everyone seemed to love it. And gosh, Clair did too. Because it is so lively. So full of emotions and choices. 

Her cousin Lance arranged some time in his schedule for them, over lunch in a cozy family restaurant by the seaside Pokéathlon Dome. “It makes me very happy to see you adjusting, cousin,” he started, with a hot coffee in hands. Apparently, Lance himself came to the board of directors to deliver his recommendation letter about Clair. And now it laid open on the table with a Ultra Ball as paperweight.

“I don’t got to adjust to anything, Lance, these people barely catch up to my pace” she said, a finger tracing over the short letter. “I didn’t know you were such a suck up, though”. Lance let out a loud laugh, almost shouting. “Of course I am! I have a heart too, or else my husband wouldn’t let me routinely shatter the dreams of hope of trainers taking the League” he answered, and quickly went red. “Please don’t tell anyone I said that”. Clair chuckled, crumpling the letter and throwing it inside her (Gigantic) backpack. “How is Koga, by the way?”. The Elite Four beamed at hearing that, enthusiastically pulling out a roll of polaroids from his pristine wallet to a inpromptu showcase: Around 14 or so pictures of Lance and Koga and his daughter Janine on a photobooth, making ridiculous poses and hugging each other fondly along with smooches. “He’s taking us to a vacation next month, and Janine wants to come! Can you believe? She used to _hate_ me!” he went on, listing the many ways she’d been helping him to understand the current internet trends. “That’s really nice, dude” Clair mumbled fondly, eyeing the peaceful waters by the docks. They were old and rusted, near the entrance of the Dome. Jas took them there for ice cream once. Clair stretched her arms and put them behind her head, snapping back to reality. Family was always a delicate topic. Her absent mind was noted, as Lance slowly arranged the polaroids back and anxiously tapped the table with his fingers.

“I did again, right? I’m so sorry” he lowered his shoulders as the apology went on. “I always forget to not talk about family”. Clair held a laugh as he talked, rolling her eyes.   
“Oh no, you’re laughing. Is my cape stuck on my pants again?” he asked, checking on the, sadly, perfectly fine fabric flowing from his shoulderpads. “No, dummy. You don’t gotta apologize over something I brought up. I was just thinking about it, you know?” she took the Ultra Ball and stared at it against the midday sunshine. “About family, spouses, the Blackthorn Gym, that shit. Maybe I do get to decide my future, huh?"

Lance crossed his arms fully shocked, slumping against the harwood chair with a hard _thud_. “You’re taking over the gym?! And dating someone?! Is she from the League?!” he jabbered, stumbling between words like an overly eager wedding planner. Clair frowned. “I’m a lesbian, dude, not a nepotist” she said, standing up to grab her (Hiker) backpack. It was time for class.

“But we must finish this conversation, cousin!” Lance requested, switching back to his calm and polite demeanor once he noticed people leering at the Elite Four casually gossiping about dates. He neatly folded the money needed for the bill inside it and almost power walked to keep up the pace with Clair.

“What is there more to say? I try everything, until it sticks with me” she explained. The Ultra Ball was thrown into the air, unleashing a flash of light taking shape into a looming Aerodactyl.

“Besides, didn’t I already tell you everything when you took me to the opening ceremony?”

And with that, she vanished in a blur of blue and grey into the skies.

**VS. BLACKTHORN CITY**

The young Dragon Tamer shifted her weight against the Elder’s Dragonite. It was a older and quieter one, with its antennae moving in a cutesy way as if to check the surroundings. Which were nothing really new, honestly. The place never changed. Nothing bad about it, though. Blackthorn City was the home of every aspiring Dragon Tamer on the world, and it welcomed them with open arms. It was a rather recluse mountainous settlement: Rocky paths paved the way, along with twisted hemlock trees dotted along houses, freezing slowly from the gusts of cool wind from the nearby Ice Path. The winding river ran furiously from its spring in Mt.Silver, shrouding the entire city in heavy fog by the evenings. But it was early morning right now, and the sun gave way to cloudy weather, flying Spearows and a very confused Lance.

“Clair, how the hell do you use this?” he arrived, holding up a green PokéGear as if it just hit him with a Confuse Ray. Clair tilted her head to the side, taking the device into her gloved hands. ”You are the most endorsed trainer on the region and you don’t even know how the shit your sponsors give you works” she mused, smirking. Lance sighed and shook his shoulders weirdly, letting his black cape flutter around. It was a whole performance when that one wanted to _really_ add the drama. The recently dyed red hair also helped.

“I don’t really get things like that! I work all the time, you’re supposed to be the smart cousin between us” he answered, nudging her playfully with an elbow. “What is your major again, cousin dearest? Probably a intellectual one, right?” Lance questioned mockingly. _What even is an intellectual major?_ Clair threw herself lazily onto Dragonite’s belly, like a giant pillow. “Don’t make me say it. Please”.

“You have to say it, I wrote you a recommendation letter. I have a right to know.”

“Let’s keep it at that. You don't got rights.”

“Say it, say it, say it.”

“No!”

Lance threw himself onto Dragonite too.

“Say it, say it, say it!” he continued chanting.

Clair covered her face with Lance’s dumb cape and whispered something out, unintelligible. “Qu...st.…”

Lance cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled. “WHAT DID YOU SAY, COUSIN DEAREST?”

She scoffed and gave in. “Queer studies, dude! All the buzz right now!"

Her cousin widened his eyes, with strands of red hair falling over them. “You’re gay! You're gay!” he continued, smiling from ear to ear.

“Uh, yeah. You too, dumbass” she clapped back, rising up. This was going on for way too long and they had places to be. Clair adjusted her gloves tightly and marched over to the edge of the narrow ledges of the pond by the Dragon’s Den. Lance stopped laughing at her when he saw this, hurrying up to his cousin. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?” he asked sheeply. Clair stretched her arms above the water. An old habit born from the years of flexing them after training. Wrestling among the dragons in the mountain belt. She does it every time a delicate subject comes to light, as if to drain them away from her body. But right now, it was just a quick way to focus up. Lance got the message relayed to him by the gesture, quietly gesturing Dragonite to come. It was already time for the Goldenrod Uni opening ceremony. The pokémon meekly pressed itself against Clair, as it always did ever since she was a newborn. Lance held his hands intertwined in front of the pair. Clair was always more skilled at connections than him. “Are you...nervous about the classes? Is that it? You can call me if things are though.”  
“Of course not, Lance”. The Dragon Tamer turned around with a smug posture, positioning herself onto Dragonite to take flight. But before, Clair said what really mattered about who she needed to be. “Haven’t you heard? I’m outstanding in every way.” 

And that will always be just what Clair needs to know about her future.

**Author's Note:**

> the end! hope i made you happy, stranger!


End file.
